2008 Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament- Espinho, Portugal

Day 3 Poland secured the ticket to Beijing Olympic Games Espinho, Portugal, June 1, 2008- The 2006 World Championship runner up Poland secured Beijing Olympic ticket following their stunning victory over Portugal in the third and final day of the 2008 Men’s World Qualification tournament here at Nave Municipal de Espinho hall in Portugal on Sunday. The Polish team who lost the European championship qualification ticket since few days succeeded to come back quickly, to achieve the prestigious Olympic berth leaving Portugal at the second position in the round robin tournament. Puerto Rico will leave home with a victory under their built finishing third after their win over Indonesia who finished at the bottom of the tournament. The qualification put the fifth world ranked Poland in the Olympic Games for the third time in the last four Olympics as they were in the draw of Atlanta 1996 and Athens 2004

Day 2 Portugal and Poland clinched second victory in the road to Beijing Espinho, Portugal, May 31, 2008- Portugal and Poland repeated their success as both clinched their second victory in a raw over Puerto Rico and Indonesia respectively in the second day of the 2008 Men’s World Qualification tournament her at Nave Municipal de Espinho in Portugal on Saturday. The winners will compete for the only Olympic ticket of the round robin tournament when they meet in the third and last day on Sunday. The Olympic qualifier of the competition will be either Portugal for the first time ever in their volleyball history or the usual big force Poland The organizing team Portugal made it two out of two after they fought out for four sets to clinch an important victory over Puerto Rico 3-1 (25-15, 22-25, 25-11, 25-18) in a thriller encounter lasted 100 minutes of exciting volleyball action and attended by the biggest no of spectators in the competition till now. After Portugal won the first set widely, Puerto Rico team emerged back and won the best set of the match 25-22 before Portugal led by the superstar Flavio Cruz emerge again to win two successive set that bring the match and improved their win- loss ratio to 2-0 to come at the top of the tournament with the point ratio ahead of Portugal at the end of the tournament’s second day, while Puerto Rico dropped to 0-2 and lost the hope of Olympic ticket. Cruz and the usually superior Hugo Gaspar who led the competition scorers made it easy for the host to win the match that made them one more step towards their first ever Olympic ticket.

Portugal and Poland achieved first victory and topped the tournament Espinho, Portugal, May 30, 2008- The Organizers Portugal and the big favorites Poland were the heroes of the first day of the 2008 Men’s World Qualification tournament after both teams set their first victory over Indonesia and Puerto Rico respectively her at Nave Municipal de Espinho in Portugal on Friday. Poland led the tournament with the point ratio ahead of Portugal with an exciting final expected between both teams on Sunday. Aided by the home spectators Portugal survived from their sluggish start to beat the struggling Indonesian team in straight sets 25-23, 25-27, 25- 21 in 62 minutes. The Portuguese right attacker Hugo Gaspar was the match star not only with his 22 points scored the match that made him the match scorer but also with his continuous movement that disturbed the Indonesian block with the aid of the skillful setter Nuno Pinheiro who was the maestro of the combinations that facilitated the duty of his team. Although they lost but the Indonesian team did well all through the match and was very competitive specially in the first set where they were near to win. Portugal win loss ratio becomes 1-0 to come second to Poland after the tournament’s first day, while Indonesia dropped to 0-1.

The four coaches are optimistic to win the Olympic ticket Espinho, Portugal, May 29, 2008- The coaches of the 2008 World Olympic qualification to start at Nave Municipal de Espinho hall here in Portugal on Friday were happy to be present in this World class competition seeking the last vacancy in Beijing 2008 and expressed their hopes to play a successful tournament ending in the successful way to clinch the Olympic ticket. Although they have the same ambition to win the qualification tournament they were very friendly in the press conference that followed the technical meeting and hoped that the best performing team will be the champion.

Portugal dreams of their first ever Olympic slot Espinho, Portugal, May 28, 2008- Portugal head coach Jorge Schmidt is dreaming to bring the Olympic ticket to his team for the first time in history, but the matter will not be easy for the Brazilian coach who wants to clinch the qualification slot from the World Olympic Qualification Tournament to start at Nave Municipal de Espinho hall here in Portugal on Friday. The competition will feature beside the organizers of Portugal, the 2006 World Championship silver medalists Poland, Norceca vice Champions Puerto Rico and Asian runner up Indonesia. “We will do our best but the qualification will not be easy against these world class teams,” Said Schmidt less than to two days to start the competition. “I dream of the moment that I can see my team clinching the Olympic ticket specially after we have got all the help from the Portuguese volleyball Federation and the National Olympic Committee. We made good preparations through the local camps, and then we played friendly matches against Slovenia and Cuba. The participation in the European championship helped us to play strong matches in our way to play this qualification tournament as we faced strong countries like Bulgaria who came first ahead of our team in the European qualification.” He added.